Nothing Shocking

On the first proper Jane's Addiction album since 1990's Ritual de lo
Habitual, the band's 2003 incarnation -- guitarist Dave Navarro,
drummer Stephen Perkins, bassist/newcomer Chris Chaney and
vocalist/Lollapalooza visionary/ unlikely alt-rock icon Perry Farrell --
races and stomps with an exuberance that would tire musicians half the
fortysomething Farrell's age. Veteran producer Bob Ezrin coats everything
with a high layer of gloss, lovingly accentuating Navarro's seemingly
endless trick bag of brawny riffs. Even Farrell barks with an intensity he
arguably hasn't tapped since the group's 1988 major label debut (and still
high-water mark), Nothing's Shocking. Everyone involved, it's fair
to say, sounds excited to be stepping back into the legacy of one of the
most revered bands of the alternative rock movement.

So it's disappointing to note that that excitement, palpable as it is,
fails to translate into a uniformly exciting record. Not that Strays
doesn't quicken the pulse -- it does, starting with the aural swoop of its
grandiose, metallic opener, "True Nature." But for all their time logged
as professional musicians, Farrell and company don't seem to have fully
grasped that it takes a lot more than adrenaline to make an arresting rock
document, and Strays coasts on their muscular goodwill when it begs
to soar.

To be sure, all of the band's trademarks seem to be in place. As
evidenced by just the first three songs, Farrell is still fond of
altruistic diatribes ("True Nature", "Just Because") and sketches of
downtrodden underdogs (the title track); likewise, the players still lurch
between hard-rock Valhalla and idyllic, folksy tableaus with a precision
that sounds deceptively easy. It's just that there's little substance
beyond the surface; the riffs don't reach escape velocity, and the lyrics
weigh anchor too early, bogging down the buoyant moments before they gain
too much momentum. "Just Because," in particular, trips over its own feet,
snagged on a repetitious, lackluster chorus ("You really should have
known/ just because"). These songs are comforting in their bombast
(musical and otherwise), but they're a lot like make-up sex: intensely
gratifying in the heat of the moment, yet delivering an empty afterglow.

But Strays does catch fire in its middle third. "The Riches"
combines muted strafing runs by Navarro and company with an effective,
idyllic coda, ebbing and flowing beneath a substantive, thoughtful lyric
about making oneself available to life's pleasures and pains: "Ready or
not man, I'm coming in/ into the life...into the life of riches!" Farrell
shouts with a restrained exuberance, a performance that serves his subject
matter well. "Superhero," meanwhile, takes a few more rhythmic and melodic
risks than most of what precedes it, as does the jarring "Wrong Girl," an
exercise in bluesy, Red Hot Chili
Peppers-style funk-rock in which Chaney and Perkins get to swagger and
Farrell yelps like it's 1988 again, with Navarro assuming the role of
drill sergeant, confidently setting the cadence and propelling things
along. Back to back, these three songs establish an aura of self-assurance
and musical conviction that comfortably recalls the sense of possibility
that so distinguished Nothing's Shocking.

Strays never quite recovers that feeling, especially on the
lackluster "Everybody's Friend," which immediately follows and quickly
dampens the embers of spirit its predecessors stoked. And while
"Hypersonic" fails to live up to its name, it does raise the tempo again,
before the album slides into the meandering closer "To Match the Sun."
Strays lacks the gut-level rawness of Nothing's Shocking or the
best exploratory moments of Ritual. Bereft of the force of ideas,
the swelling of potential, it largely settles for a pleasant, high-calorie
buzz of guitar heroics and sonic familiarity. It's nice to hear Jane's
Addiction sounding like Jane's Addiction, but one hungers for more
than an aural approximation, especially given the middle troika's glimpse
of the record that could have been. Ultimately, the sound and fury of
Strays signifies nothing very shocking.